The thoughts and observations of a retinal detachment patient

Eye to Eye 2017: Cindy’s Story

On 12 March 2017, my sister and I will once again be walking 14 miles from Moorfields Eye Hospital to the London Eye (via the scenic route) to raise money for sight-saving research. This year, we’re taking part as a team, along with other people who have been affected by retinal detachment, and one four-legged member of the team in the shape of Cindy the labradoodle. I thought it would be interesting to share the stories of my fellow team-members, and obviously I’m not about to discriminate against folk with more than two legs, so this week it’s Cindy’s turn. Fortunately for those readers not fluent in Woofs, we’ve managed to get her story translated into English. So now it’s over to Cindy…

When Mum told me that we’ll be going for a reeeaally long walk in March, I jumped up in excitement, wagging my tail as hard as it would wag and woofing at the top of my bark, “Yes yes yes yes!”. I just luuuurve walks, you see. Especially looooong walks. Long walks mean more to sniff! And more people to meet! And more people often mean treats, especially if I’m really good and stare at them longingly without blinking. Apparently, people are even going to pay us money for going on the walk. I thought Mum would be able to use the money to buy more treats, which seemed like a great idea! Then I found out that the money is going to help people with eye problems. Mum told me all about how she’d wanted a dog for years and years, and when her eye went squiffy she thought the only way she’d get one was if she needed a guide dog. I know all about guide dogs. I met one in the town a while ago. He was the most handsome chocolate labrador I’ve ever seen – just the colour of the mud I love to roll in, with deep brown eyes to drool for. I galloped up to him for a sniff and a wag, but he just stared straight ahead without even a sideways glance to admire my golden curls. He barked sternly out of the side of his jowls, “Sorry, can’t stop and sniff – I’m working”, and continued on his way. I probably should have played it cool but you know what it’s like when you fall ears over paws for a cute canine. I figured it wasn’t much fun being a guide dog though. I mean – who wants to be working all the time?!

Anyway, it’s okay cos Mum’s eyes are much better and she’s got me to cheer her up and give her lots of licks. So we’re going to go for this loooong walk to help other people. It’s going to be a walk all around the streets of London. I’ve been to London before. There’s not much mud there, or cow pats, or other deliciously-smelling things to roll in. But on the other paw, it does mean that we get to go on the train, which is waggles of fun! Trains are whooshingly exciting, and they have loads of different smells on them and lots of people who sometimes share bits of their food if I stare at them long enough. People seem to like me quite a lot, which comes in handy for getting extra treats. I often get mistaken for that famous labradoodle on the telly – you know, the one on the Flash advert. (You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIR5dNN7o1w.) Of course, the pooches down at the park think that I’d do a far better job at the slow-motion mud showers. I can’t show off that trick too often at home though otherwise I get into deep doo-doo. The sort of doo-doo that won’t fit into one of those tiny plastic bags, if you catch my drift. The only thing I’m a bit worried about with this walk is that London has looooooads of lamp posts. Lamp posts are great because a quick sniff tells me which of my friends are in the area that day, but of course I also have to let everyone know that I’m there too and sometimes when there are too many lamp posts it means that I run out of wee, which can get a bit embarrassing.

Mum says we need to practise for this long walk… imagine! Practising for a walk?! I’ve never heard such a howler! Walking is easy – you just put the front two legs in front of the back two and off you go! I think it’s harder for humans though, because they only have two legs and they don’t have paws. We went for an eleven-mile practise walk the other day – Mum and her friend Alex, and me. Mum wore new shoes, but when she got home she found that the shoes had bitten her feet and made sore patches. So that wasn’t good. And Alex just fell asleep when we got home, without even giving me a treat first, which I thought was simply apawling behaviour. I had to ask Dad for a treat instead. Dad won’t be coming on the walk, which I feel a bit droopy-eared about. I might try and find a nice smelly stick to take back for him…

if you’d like to sponsor Cindy and the rest of our team, you can do so at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rd-ramblers. Alternatively, you can donate by texting: “ISEE66 £5” to 70070 (or whichever amount you prefer, of course). All donations, no matter how small, are hugely appreciated, and will also give Cindy considerable kudos with her brown-eyed chocolate labrador guide-dog acquaintance (when he’s off duty, obviously). Cindy would also appreciate donations of treats or quantities of mud to roll in, but sadly we don’t have the resources to enable online donations of either of those items… 😉

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4 thoughts on “Eye to Eye 2017: Cindy’s Story”

Wow That was woofingly good Emma. Yes the 11 mile walk did happen but I would just like to say I was not “suited and Booted” properly as I only had work shoes and not boots made for walking. We were not going to go that far honest…… however it was fun in an odd sort of way.